Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - The Western Wall Heritage Foundation removed tens of thousands of prayer notes from Judaism's second-holiest site on April 2 in preparation for the Passover holiday, which starts on April 12. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites, oversaw the annual extraction of prayer notes, which will be buried alongside disposed sacred writings according to Jewish customs. "The removal was carried out according to halachic guidelines, using gloves and disposable wooden...
(JNS) — A Hebrew manuscript, which experts have dated to the eighth century making it the earliest known such object, is on view in New York City after being the centerpiece of an exhibition in Washington, D.C., at the Museum of the Bible. The Afghan Liturgical Quire, which is part of the Washington museum’s collection but which has uncertainty in its provenance history, is part of the show Sacred Words: Revealing the Earliest Hebrew Book, which opened on March 19 at the Jewish Theological Sem...
Westgate Resorts announced with great sadness the passing of its founder and executive chairman, David Siegel, on April 5, 2025. He was 89. Siegel was born May 3, 1935, to Sadelle and Sid Siegel, a grocer, who moved the family and grocery business to Miami in 1945. Siegel grew up in Florida where he graduated from Miami Senior High School in 1953, and later studied marketing and management at the University of Miami, before dropping out. Siegel established Westgate Resorts in 1982 with its...
(JTA) - The Passover Haggadah is one of the few sacred Jewish texts that has a long history of including illustrations, and among the most remarkable are detailed images of rabbit hunts that often appear in the opening pages, even before the text of the Seder really begins. The images, which are varied in style and can be found in editions dating back to medieval and early modern Germany, often present hunters and dogs chasing rabbits, the latter of which are generally depicted escaping over a f...
Temple Israel Sisterhood has recently taken their sense of camaraderie and creativity to new heights by organizing a series of exciting crafty events, including glass blowing at the Orlando Glass Blowing Center, pottery painting, and painting by numbers. These activities offered members a unique chance to come together, tap into their artistic side, and enjoy some much-needed relaxation. Glass Blowing at the Orlando Glass Blowing Center: A Spark of Creativity One of the most exciting and dynamic...
This year, as we prepare for Passover, my thoughts are not only on the upcoming holiday but also the memories of a very special Passover 47 years ago. At this time in 1978, Larry and I were anxiously awaiting the birth of our first child. My mother and my older sister had delivered their babies early and easily, and I was expecting the same experience for me. It didn't turn out that way. After I had gone through several hours of unproductive labor, our baby was delivered on his due date,...
By Mike Wagenheim (JNS) — Former hostage Amit Soussana was decorated with an International Women of Courage Award by the U.S. State Department on April 1 as she called for a global effort to free the remaining captives held in Gaza. Soussana, who was sexually assaulted after being taken from her Kibbutz Kfar Aza home during Hamas’s rampage through southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was the only one of the eight award recipients asked to give a keynote speech. “While I am here, my friends remain in the darkness, 543 long days and nights,” said So...
(JTA) — As Sen. Cory Booker broke the record for the longest Senate speech and made clear he was going for 25 hours, Jewish social media lit up with jokes. “This is the closest Cory Booker will get to experiencing Yom Kippur,” tweeted Sami Sage, the co-founder of Betches Media, in one representative post. As Jews do on Yom Kippur, Booker fasted during his entire Senate speech, consuming only a few sips of water. He also apologized for his and his party’s errors that allowed Donald Trump to retake the presidency. And with the help of his Dem...
(JNS) — America’s youngest adults continue to be an outlier in their views of Hamas and Israel, according to a poll released on Monday. The Harvard Harris poll for March found that 48 percent of American 18- to 24-year-olds say they support Hamas over the Jewish state, making them the only age demographic for which Israel did not enjoy at least double-digit support over the terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. By contrast, 93 percent of Americans 65 and older say they support Israel compared to just 7 percent who say they support Hamas. Ove...
(JNS) — A 2,200-year-old pyramid-shaped structure from the days of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid rulers is being unearthed in the Judean Desert in one of the richest and most intriguing archaeological excavations in the area, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday. The mammoth structure discovered just north of Nahal Zohar near the Dead Sea is made of hand-hewn stones, each one weighing hundreds of kilograms, the state-run archaeological body said. Two millennia old historical documents written in Greek on papyrus, bronze coins, w...
(JNS) — Passover is here, and I will be so presumptuous as to suggest that you may have opened your favorite Haggadah to have a look and start preparing for the big seder night. Seder means “order.” And one of the items in the order of the seder agenda is yachatz. Well, what is yachatz? It’s one of the first things we do on seder night, even before anyone says the “Ma Nishtanah.” We break the middle matzah of the three matzahs on our seder plates. The larger part is put away for the afikomen and the smaller part remains inside the seder plate...
(JNS) — Many in the media have spent the last few days debating the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and activist who led tension-filled campus protests in the past year that targeted Jewish and Zionist students and faculty. Much of the discussion has been on the First Amendment and free-speech rights. Surprisingly, the elephant in the room has been largely ignored. After the December 2023 congressional hearings that saw three university presidents grilled over their inaction to protect Jewish American students and fa...
(JNS) — Harvard University’s decision to “pause” a research partnership with Birzeit University, a Palestinian university near Ramallah, was long overdue. In 2023, Israeli security forces arrested eight students from Birzeit University who were planning what was described as “an imminent terror attack.” That apparently meant that the plan wasn’t just theoretical; it was on the verge of becoming operational. Birzeit should be known as “Terror U” for its students’ active support of Hamas. For instance, a basketball championship game w...
(JNS) — Hundreds of Palestinians rallied last week in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, chanting, among other things: “Out, out, Hamas out!” This is the first time masses of Gazans have openly called for the terrorist group to be removed from power. Protests against Hamas rule have since spread throughout the Gaza Strip. Good news, right? But wait: Why have no pro-Palestinian protesters in the West stepped up to support these brave demonstrators? Why have no mass protests been held echoing Gazans’ demands that Hamas relinquish power? No surpris...
(JNS) — Among my various occupations, I am a tour guide, primarily for Christian groups. On Oct. 7, 2023, I was with a group of Christians from Norway and African countries. It was supposed to be the second-to-last day of their trip. At breakfast in a hotel in Tiberias, I turned on my phone and started seeing WhatsApp videos, mostly of white pickup trucks driving through the streets of Sderot. I knew something unusual was happening, but I still didn’t grasp the magnitude of the event. Slowly, more and more reports started coming in amid the unc...
(JNS) — Among those who forcibly occupied Trump Tower recently to protest the deportation of a violent antisemite, were members of the Jewish Voice for Peace, who, along with other far-left groups like IfNotNow, have been parading support for Hamas since its Oct. 7 attack. The scene was a chilling reminder of the giant rift splitting American Jewry. On one side of this rift are American Jews of all denominations, including secular ones, who love Israel as our ancestral homeland and the United States as the greatest country on earth. On the othe...
MORNING MINYANS Chabad of South Orlando — Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. and 10 minutes before sunset; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 8:15 a.m., 407-354-3660. Congregation Ahavas Yisrael — Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m.; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-644-2500. Congregation Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Daytona — Monday, 8 a.m.; Thursday, 8 a.m., 904-672-9300. Congregation Ohev Shalom — Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-298-4650. GOBOR Community Minyan at Jewish Academy of Orlando — Monday – Friday, 7:45 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Temple Israel — Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-647-30...
(JNS) — Chocolate bars under the three-year-old snack brand Feastables, founded by YouTube star MrBeast, are now certified kosher by the Orthodox Union. Jimmy Donaldson, 26, who goes by MrBeast, boasts the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, with 375 million followers as of March 2025. The Orthodox Union certification of the bars as kosher and dairy began in February stateside. The company expects to roll out kosher bars in Canada and Mexico this spring and in Europe and Australia in the fall. “As the fastest-growing global chocolate brand, we...
From the formulation of contemporary Zionism, the concept of the “Two-State solution” has been a cornerstone obligation. From both legal and historical perspectives, that obligation has not changed. However, today’s realities beg the question: Does Israel’s survivability and longevity depend on implementation of the Two-State Solution? And, if so, how can a parallel Palestinian Arab state be formulated? With the goal of providing an historical perspective and assessment, Heritage will present a 6-part exposition on this timely, but controv...
(JTA) — The Nova music festival, where more than 350 people were murdered on Oct. 7, 2023, has quickly become one of the most visited tourist destinations in Israel. More than 200,000 people per month visited the site, at Kibbutz Reim near the Gaza border, on average over the last six months, according to Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael–Jewish National Fund. If sustained, that pace would put Nova on track to draw more visitors than the Dead Sea or Tel Aviv’s Anu Museum, which focuses on the Jewis...
Ingredients 2 large egg whites, room temperature 1/2 cup sugar 3/4 tsp. cream of tarter 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup semisweet Passover chocolate chips, melted and slightly cooled 3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional) 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste for Passover 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional) If chips contain milk, the recipe is dairy. Heat the oven to 325 F. In a medium-size oil-free bowl, place two egg whites. Mix in sugar and allow mixture to sit for 1/2 hour at room temperature. The whites...
Rabbi Majesky noted this mission was the largest group to go to Israel this year and the Orlando delegation was the largest within the Jewish Learning Institute – Land and Spirit group. This was my third consecutive trip to Israel with JLI's Land and Spirit. Two years ago, the trip was focused on the land. Last year, the focus was on the people. This year, the focus was on unity with our people and with our land. Am Yisrael Chai! Day 1 (Monday, March 17): Caesarea – Built by King Herod in 22...
Alvina (also known as Alla Alekseevna) Listengarten passed away on March 28, 2025, at the age of 88. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Leonid Listengarten, with whom she shared 57 beautiful years of marriage. Alvina is survived by her daughter, Julia; son-in-law, Alex; and her cherished grandsons, Philip and Frank — all of whom were the greatest joys of her life. Alvina was an extraordinary wife, a loving mother, and a deeply devoted grandmother. She was also a gifted musician a... Full story
Submitted by the family Arnold Marcus passed away on March 15, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. He was born Aug. 1, 1931, in South Philadelphia to William and Mary Marcus. At an early age he developed a love for airplanes, classical music and opera. Some of you might be wondering when and why he began eating the way he did. He began eating this way around age 18. The reason is simple, as a child he ate a standard diet and was always sick ... always. It was his Uncle Albert who introduced him to a... Full story
